Yale Art Gallery pulls federal funding requests over anti-DEI grant conditions

The Yale University Art Gallery has pulled federal funding requests for an exhibit on African art because it objects to grant restrictions on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). 

The art gallery will pay for the exhibit out of its endowment as Yale has an endowment of over $40 billion.

The museum “objects specifically to the grant compliance stipulation that ‘the applicant does not operate any programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that violate any applicable federal anti-discrimination laws,” a spokesman for the museum said, according to CT Insider.

“[W]e have a world-spanning collection of art, and it is our mission to represent a diversity of cultures,” the spokesman continued.

[RELATED: LSU spent over $2 million on DEI programs favoring ’underrepresented’ students]

The art gallery previously applied for $100,000 each from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, two government agencies. The gallery has withdrawn both of those requests. 

The federal government has already canceled several grants for the Yale Art Gallery, as reported by CT Insider. 

Federal agencies have changed grant application requirements to restrict DEI projects.

Several colleges have taken proactive steps in response to the Trump administration’s anti-DEI policies.

Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, ceased accepting federal government grants because of the Trump administration’s ban on projects containing DEI language.

“The college is unfortunately not comfortable accepting any new NSF or NIH grants, at least at this time,” a school official said at the time. “[T]his new condition goes well beyond a standard certification that the college comply with all applicable nondiscrimination laws.”

A community college in Phoenix canceled an LGBT film festival, citing President Trump’s anti-DEI executive order from January.

“This decision comes in direct response to recent presidential executive orders impacting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts at public institutions, including our community college district,” the college’s announcement said.

[RELATED: Leaked documents reveal Belmont using DEI to shape hiring amid alleged coverup]

A recently published report from the Center for American Progress revealed that the Trump administration has canceled over 4,000 grants at over 600 colleges and universities.

Some of those grants formerly funded projects at Arizona State University, which lost $7.5 million for five DEI-related grants in April and May. One project was titled “Black Girls as Creators: an intersectional learning ecosystem toward gendered racial equity in Artificial Intelligence education.”

Campus Reform has contacted the Yale Art Gallery for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.